Oil-shale  appaeatus



Mach 1, 1927.

E. MARSH ET AL OIL SHALE' APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 7, 1925gwventom March 1927' H. E. MARSH E OIL SHALE APPARATUS 1926 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 7 Patented Mar; 1, 1927.

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ernr ei HOWARD E. MARSH, OF LOMPOC, AND CHARLES J. DUNTEN, OF SANTAMARIA, CALI- FORNIA, ASSIGNOBS F ONE-SEXTH 'lG VERNEP, LEE, OF SANTABARBARA, CALL FOBNIA, AND ONE-SIXTH T0 JAMES H. LEE, 0F GEE ANDJUNCTION, COLORADO.

OIL-SHALE unreal inns.

Application filed June 7,

This invention relates to oil extraction apparatus and, particularly, tothat type of apparatus used in the extraction of oil from oil shale.

One of the principal objects of the invention is to economically extractthe oil from the shale. I Another important'object is to provide forcontinuous operation of the apparatus.

Another object is to operate the mechanism by power developed from theheat of the burning shale.

Further objects and advantages will appear in the subjoined detaileddescription.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention:

Figure 1 is a view, partly in side elevation, and partly in vertical midsection, of a shale oil machine constructed in accordance with theprovisions of this invention, the spent shale conveyor being partlybroken away.

Figure 2 1s a plan View of the'apparatus.

There is provided 'a boiler 6, inthis instance of the tub ulartype, thetubes being indicated at 7 and providing fines for the gases ofcombustion that rise from the combustion chamber 8 located beneath theboiler; The lower ends of the tubes 7 open'through a bottom" plate 9 andthe upper ends of said tubes open through an upper plate 10. The plate 9forms the roof of the combustion chamber 8. Above the plate 10 is acylindrical chamber 11, which constitutes a por tion of the boiler, thegases of combustion flowing from the tubes 7 into said chamber 11. Thechamber 11 is provided with a stack opening 12 for escapeor" the gasesof combustion.

l Vithin the outer portion of the boilert are shale-heating chambers 13arranged in a circle and adapted to hold the oil shale, indicated at A,and said chambers are sur rounded by the water B in the boiler. Thechambers 13 are supplied, respectively, with shale through feed ducts 15which extend upwardlyand inwardly to a central feed' opening 16, locatedin axial alinement with the boiler. The feed ducts are provided withgates 17 to regulate the flow of shale through said ducts, therebycontrolling thespeedof flow of the shale into the chambers 13.

Opening outwardly through the outer 1926. Serial No. 114,084.

' aslant inwardly and upwardly and are thus held by gravity in closedposition. If explosion of the gases, produced from the shale,shouldoccur, the force of the explosionwill blow open the door 19 of thechamber 13 in which th explosion occurs, thus preventing injury to theapparatus.

The chambers 13 are provided at their low-er ends with a circular grateformed of rotary grate bars 21, 22, each of which is rotatably mountedin inner'bearings 23, on the outer face of the combustion chamber, andin outer bearings 24, secured to the outer wall 14. The grate bars 21are tapered andhave their smaller ends pointing inwardly and are drivenby pinions 25'and'the grate bars 22 aremounted in pairs between thegrate bars 21, and the longitudinally extending teeth 26 of the gratebars intermeshso that the grate bars 22are driven by the grate bars .21.The grate bars) 21, 22, are arrangedradially with respect to thevertical axis ofthe boiler. To drive the pinions 25, said pinions are inmesh with a ring worm gear 27 which is rotatably' mounted above thepinions on the outer wall of the water chamber- 14 by lower brackets 30,said brackets being secured to the outer wall 14;

The ring worm gear 27 is driven by driven by a shaft 32, which turns inpedes tal bearings 33 mounted on the foundation 301. The shaft 32 isprovided with a sprocket wheel 34, driven by a sprocket chain 35 from asprocket wheel 36 mounted onthe shaft 37' of a steam turbine 38.

Beneath the combustion chamber 8 and chamber 13 is a funnel shapedspent. shale pit'39, provided at its lowest point with an opening 40through which the spent shale discharges into a screw conveyor 41 thatis operated by mitre gears 42 from a shaft 43.

The combustion chamber 8 is provided rollers 28 rotating in upperbrackets 29 and with a door 44 having an opening 45 through whichextends an oil or gas burner 46 for heating the combustion chamber.

Surrounding the chamber 11 is a vapor chamber 47 through which the fuelteed ducts pass, said chamber 47 communicating through openings 48 withthe chambers 13, said openings 48 surrounding the lower ends of theducts 15. In other words, the lower ends of the ducts 15 are of lessdianieter than the chambers 13 so that vapors or tog, as it is generallytermed in this art,

.generated from the shale in the well, will pass upwardly through theopenings 48 and into the cha1nber47. This vaporthus preheats the shalein the ducts 15..

direct-connected with the shaft 37.

The vapors or tog pass from the chamber 47 through a pipe 49 which isbranched, each branch connecting with the upper-end of a respectively,with valves 56 and connected with the upper ends of the coils 57. Athird 7 branch 58, of the steam line connects'with shown.

the turbine 38 and is provided with a valve 59. 1' r 1 Y The lowerendsof the separators 5O connect bya branched pipe 60 with arotary pump 61,each branch of said pipe being provided witha valve 62. The. shaft ofthe pump 61 is provided with a sprocket 63 driven by a sprocket chain 64which in turn is driven by a sprocket 65 mounted on the shaft 32. Thedischarge pipe 66 of the pump 61 may. be connected to a suitable storagetank, not

The construction and operation of the. in vention will be understoodfrom the forego ing description and, briefly stated, the operation is asfollows: All of the valves being closed, fire will be started under theboiler, and oil shale broken into pieces of the proper size will bedelivered by. a conveyor, or any other suitable means, to the opening16. to

fill the chambers 13 and the ducts 15.. Then the shale in the lowerportion of the chambers will be tired by any suitable means, as

for example, by burners 67, in a manner well understood in this art.Steam pressure will develop in the boiler and the valve 59 will then beopened, causing the turbine 38' to operate. The turbine operates theeXha-uster and one of the valves 51 will be opened, thus drawing oftfrom the shale in the chambers 13, the vapors that are given oil by theshale. When the separator becomes partly choked,

its controlling valve 51 will be closed and the controlling valve 51 ottheother separator will be opened immediately to permit the vaporst-o bedrawn through said other sepa i'ator. When the shale in the chambers 13becomes surlicientl'y hot to maintain the requisite steam. pressure inthe boiler, the burners 45 will be shut off.

Having shut oil the separator first used, live steam will be admitted tothe coil 57 or 2 said separator by opening. the appropriate valve 56,thus producing heat'to melt down the paraflin and/or other waxes thathave solidified in the separator. The valve 62 associated with theseparator that is bemg cleaned will then be opened and'the operation ofthe rotary pump 61 will cause the I paraffin and other melted waxes tobe pumped out of the separator to the storage tank, not shown. v V

The grate bars 21, 22,. rotating continuously, cause the spentshale todischarge between said bars into the pit 39, whence they discharge intothe conveyor 41 and are removed by said conveyor to any 'suitablepointof discharge. The rapidity with which the r grate bars are operateddetermines the rate V of flow of the shale through the apparatus andthis is regulated by the admission of more or less steam through thevalve 59 to the turbine.

From the foregoing, it is seen that the separators are used alternatelyso that the production of the oil will be continuous.

We claim: V p I 1. An oil. shale apparatus comprising a boiler, means toheat the boiler, a shale j chamber in said boiler, means for; firing theshale chamber, a feed duct leading to the" upper end of the shalechamber, a grate at the-lower end of the shale chamber, a vapor with theshale chamber communicating v chamber, a separator connected with thevapor chamber, an exhauster communieating with theseparator, and meansoper ated by steam from the boiler to drive the exhauster. r

2. An oil shale apparatus comprising a boiler, means to heat the boiler,a shale chamber in said boiler, means for firing the shale chamber, afeed duct leading to. the

upper end of the shale chamber, agrate at chamber chamber, a separatorconnected with the vapor chamber and provided with a steam coilconnected with the boiler, an eXhauster communicating with theseparator, and

means operated by steam from the boilen to drive the exhauster. l

3. An oil shale apparatus comprising 'a' the lower end of the shalechamber, a vapor f communicating with the shale tubular boiler, acombustion chamber beneath the boiler communicating with, the boilertubes at one end, a chamber provided with a stack opening andcommunicating with the boiler tubes at the other end,a

' shale chamber in the boiler, means for firing the shale chamber, afeed duct leading to the upper end of the shale chamber, a grate at thelower end of the shale chamber, a vapor chamber communicating with theshale chamber, a separator connected with the vapor chamber and providedwith a steam coil connected with the boiler, and a burner in thecombustion chamben 4. In an oil shale apparatus, the combination ofshale chambers arranged in a circle, means to fire the shale chambers,movably mounted grate bars at the lower ends of the shale chambers,pinions operably connected with some of the grate bars, a rotatablymounted ring gear surrounding the shale chambers in mesh with thepinions, and means to operate said ring gear.

5. In an oil shale apparatus, the combination of shale chambers arrangedin a circle, means to fire the shale chambers, rotatably mounted gratebars at the lower ends of the shale chambers, pinions connected withsome of said grate bars, a rotatably mounted ring gear surrounding theshale chambers in mesh with the pinions, and means to operate said ringgear.

6. In an oil shale apparatus, the combination of shale chambers arrangedin a circle, means to fire theshale chambers, rotatably mounted gratebars at the lower ends of the shale chambers provided with intermeshingteeth, said grate bars being tapered and radially positioned, pinionsconnected with some of said grate bars, a rotatably mounted ring gearsurrounding the shale chambers in mesh with the pinions, and means tooperate said ring gear.

7. An oil shale apparatus comprising a boiler, means to heat the boiler,shale chambers arranged in a circle in the boiler, means to fire theshale chambers, movably mounted grate bars at the lower ends of theshale chambers, pinions operably connected with some of the grate bars,a rotatably mounted ring gear surrounding the boiler in mesh with thepinions, a vapor chamber cornmunicating with the shale chambers, aseparator communicating with the vapor chamher and provided with a steamcoil connected with the boiler, an exhauster con nected with theseparator to exhaust vapors therefrom, a pump connected with theseparator to draw melted waxes therefrom, and a prime mover operated bysteam from the boiler and operably connected with the ring gear,exhauster and pump.

HOWARD E. MARSH. CHARLES J. DUNTEN.

